Phosphorylated AKT Protein Is Overexpressed in Human Peripheral T-cell Lymphomas and Predicts Decreased Patient Survival

BackgroundThe AKT signaling pathway controls the survival and growth of human cancer cells. The purpose of this study was to investigate the expression dynamics of phosphorylated AKT (pAKT) in peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL) and its clinical significance.Materials and MethodsImmunohistochemistry was performed to examine the pAKT expression in 106 PTCL cases. pAKT expression and its association with clinicopathologic characteristics of a patient with PTCL were analyzed.ResultsA total of 106 samples were tested, and 52 (49.1%) were positive for pAKT. There was significant positive correlation between pAKT expression and higher levels of lactic dehydrogenase (P < .05), whereas positive pAKT expression was negatively correlated with patients' overall response rate (P < .05). Further multivariate analysis revealed that positive pAKT expression predicted decreased progression-free survival and/or overall survival (P < .05).ConclusionAnalysis of our results suggest that pAKT expression, as examined by immunohistochemistry, is an independent prognostic factor for PTCL. The clinical value of pAKT expression analysis in PTCL is worthy of further clinical investigations.